Aspen Museums and Galleries

This sleek gallery space is a mecca of contemporary art in the mountains. The international collection showcases works primarily from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Expect pieces from artists such as Matisse, Pisarro, and Keith Haring. Recent exhibits include New Orleans–based former biologist Allison Stewart, whose work explores our environment’s fragility, and Brazilian multimedia artist Vik Muniz.

Many of the country's most prominent collectors house their collections in their Aspen homes, so the town has always been a hot spot for contemporary art. Thanks to the support of that impressive group of benefactors, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the quality of this tiny but sophisticated art museum has always been disproportionate to the size (and isolation) of the town it inhabits. Ambitious Director Heidi Zuckerman opened the museum's flashy new Shigeru Ban-designed building back in 2014, tripling the size of the exhibition space and bringing the location directly into the center of town. The museum brings in some of the world's best contemporary artists for group and solo exhibitions year-round.